Our jealousy and envy hold us back. I’ve seen it up close and personal for 42 years. All of my professional life I have put my community’s interests first, but have only been slamming my head against a brick wall because my people have failed to reciprocate. I’ve held out hope and still do, but it must be said from my perch that we are our own worst enemy.

We cannot blame anyone else really. While racial bigotry hampers every other race apart from the mainstream, others like Latino and Asian community are gaining ground in spite of it because they have no problem in relying on themselves. The Black community wrestles with this.

This has never been truer than in the City of Compton, a municipality that has benefited greatly from the Compton Herald but has given virtually nothing back in the form of advertising remuneration. That how news media survive. That’s how we earn our keep. Some people are ignorant to this reality; others are just plain vindictive and seek to starve the Herald if they cannot bend our editorial policy to their whim as though we are a publicity service. That’s not the job of an objective news medium. That’s not the job of the Compton Herald.

The city misunderstands the mission of journalism — always has. We will never take sides in this fractured town beset by mean-spiritedness, anger, jealousy, and envy.

I wrestled with whether I should express these thoughts publicly, but they’ve weighed on me for some time and needed airing out. It may seem that dismay has encroached and taken a toll, but no good thing comes without struggle. The Herald is not close to pulling the brake. It will continue publishing news that informs and educates — news that many appreciative readers in Compton, Los Angeles County, statewide, nationwide, and abroad have come to expect.

If you embrace the Herald, we could use your financial support. There is nothing magical or mystical about success in business, whether in the news business or the clothing business — the public has to be supportive.